Just acquired mine and knew a bunch of you guys are running this setup. I'm new to handheld gps and wanted to hit the ground running with it. I'd appreciate any pointers, map sources, or tips/tricks to become proficient with it quickly. I'll revisit the thread I saw a while back on it, and practice of course. Help is much appreciated.

I think the thing that helped me the most was using UTM coordinates instead of lat/long. Much easier in my opinion. Great unit. You'll learn the most by playing with it.

As BMN pointed out, get youself familiar with the UTM coordinate system.  It is based on an XY coordinate system and much less cumbersome to work with than the Lat-Long system.  Also...I recommend you learn about all the information that is contained on a topographic 7.5 minute quad map, i.e. all the tick marks and numbers along the margins and what they mean as well as all the topographic information.  You can order custom topo maps from Mytopo.com with the UTM grid lines superimposed onto the map.  Using this methodology you can navigate to any location on the map within 10-15 feet and return to locations that [you've] marked with repeatable pinpoint accuracy.

Brett

I took a basic class at an REI store that helped me a lot, and then walked the town and hills around where I live marking and finding stuff.

Read the booklet first and then follow the instruction above.

thanks!